A New Jersey woman who said he has won around $2m on the slots in Atlantic City has hit out at the casio for refusing to pay out.
Roney Beal, 72, of New Jersey, made a trip to Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City at the end of February and played a Wheel of Fortune machine.
While Ms Beal was spinning the slot machine, operated by the gaming company International Game Technology, the wheel ended up on the word ‘Jackpot’with a dollar sign. Then, Ms Beal said she heard the words ‘You’ve won,’ with 3D coins appearing and a blue light going off.
"And it went off, says, ‘you’re a winner,’ and gold coins popped out," she claimed to 6ABC Action News. "This very nice guy says, ‘Oh my God, you hit, you hit!’ He said, ‘Lady, you’re a millionaire.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh my God!’ "
The jackpot on the machine was more than $1.2m, but Ms Beal also said she hit the multiplier, increasing the win.
"That’s when the sentences came up ‘tilted’," she told 6ABC. "When the man came over to talk to me, he said, ‘Lady, get it in your head; you won nothing’," she claimed.
Ms Beal was told the machine was experiencing a malfunction called a ‘reel tilt,’ which she was told voids the win.
She told The New York Post that when she had hit the call button to summon help, that is when the tilt message appeared.
A casino attendant then came over to Ms Beal and opened up the machine and allegedly asked her to ‘spin it off,’ which she refused to do, 6ABC reports.
"He had it rolling real slow. He had it opened, and then he is pushing it," she added.
The attendant was allegedly hitting different buttons inside the machine, then offered Ms Beal, who thought she had just become a millionaire, a mere £350.
"They fooled with the machine before anybody else had the opportunity to take a look at this," Ms Beal’s attorney, Mike Di Croce, told the New York Post.
The attorney alleges that the casino attendant may possibly have tampered with evidence of the win and is asking for the casino – and the machine company who is responsible for the payout – to preserve the machine and casino floor videos for an independent forensic review.
"You invite somebody to your business. They pay the money, they win, and you’re supposed to pay. That didn’t happen," Mr Di Croce said.
The attorney also told The New York Post that he is preparing a legal complaint against Bally’s casino and the gaming company, International Game Technology for $2.56m –because Ms Beal hit a $1.28m jackpot with a multiplier.
He also plans to file for an additional $1m plus emotional distress claim.
A spokesperson for the casino told the New York Post that “Bally’s has no comment on this incident as we’re only the casino who houses the machine.”
“IGT handles the payouts, and would be best to get a comment from at this time,” they added.
An International Game Technology spokesperson told the outlet that it “is cooperating with the casino operator’s investigation of this matter.”
The Independent has contacted Bally’s Casino and International Game Technology for comment.
